DVD Releases

If you’re checking out the DVD debut of 1953’s “Bad for Each Other’’ to see Charlton Heston in an early role, you’ve got it all backward. It’s Lizabeth Scott, as the socialite tempting bored doctor Heston, who’s the one being spotlighted by “Bad Girls of Film Noir’’ (2010), a two-volume, eight-picture collection of B-movie seaminess from the Columbia vaults. You’re not going to find anything here on the order of Barbara Stanwyck lathering up Fred MacMurray, but you’ll still appreciate Evelyn Keyes (right) in Volume 1’s leadoff title, “The Killer That Stalked New York’’ (1950). The last time you saw Keyes was likely in a cast reminiscence segment on the recent reissue of “Gone With the Wind,’’ in which the late actress played Scarlett’s little sister. She’s just a touch harsher in “Killer’’ as a nightclub singer who smuggles diamonds from Cuba for her man, only to make the bitter discoveries that he’s a two-timer (with her sister!), and that she’s contracted a city-imperiling case of smallpox. Try to suppress a little H1N1 shudder as Keyes shakily stops at a bubbler to fortify herself until she can exact her revenge - and schoolchildren take a swig right after her. Other entries include Ida Lupino’s turn as matron of “Women’s Prison’’ (1955) and “The Glass Wall’’ (1953), about a desperate foreign refugee preying on easy-mark city girl Gloria Grahame - Violet of “It’s a Wonderful Life’’ arrived in New York at long last, with disastrous results. Extras: next to none, despite the potential for elaborating on the genre’s juicy allure for actresses of the ’40s and ’50s. (Sony, $24.96 each volume)

COMEDY

A SERIOUS MAN (2009)

We were certainly appreciative when the Coen brothers sat down several years back to supply, hallelujah, commentary for “The Man Who Wasn’t There.’’ If only they had saved it for their apparently very personal look at the travails of a cuckolded Jewish physics professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) in ’60s suburbia. Wickedly funny and oddly touching, this best picture nominee is the Coens’s most satisfying work since the similarly multi-toned “Fargo’’ - “No Country for Old Men’’ notwithstanding. Extras: In a featurette, Ethan Coen likens the film’s Yiddish-folktale opener to an old pre-feature short - only “instead of the cartoon, we have Fyvush Finkel.’’ (Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $36.98)

DRAMA

THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE (2009)

Fantasy lovers and canoodling lovers alike have been able to find strange satisfaction in the time-travel romance subgenre - see “Somewhere in Time,’’ “Time After Time,’’ and this adaptation of the 2003 novel by Audrey Niffenegger. Eric Bana is a “chronologically impaired’’ man who marries Rachel McAdams despite their awareness that he’s prone to getting temporarily yanked back - and forward - to key points in his life. The movie is an engrossing if illogical mind-bender, full of squirmy moments intended (McAdams seducing Bana’s younger self) and not (Bana meeting McAdams’s character as a girl). Extras: production featurettes. (Warner, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99)

TELEVISION

ROD SERLING STUDIO ONE DRAMAS (1954-56)

A few years before “The Twilight Zone’’ - and a few months before his career-boosting teleplay for “Requiem for a Heavyweight’’ - Serling wrote the anthology pieces “The Arena,’’ about a grudge-fueled Senate showdown, and “The Strike,’’ about an Army unit in Korea grappling with sacrificing some of their own. “Strike’’ is suspenseful but too emotionally loquacious to feel convincing; the political tale holds up better, as a new senator must choose between leveraging his rival’s scandalous secret and taking the high road. Extras: Liner notes recall Serling’s frustration with censoring of “Arena’’: “I probably [should have] made it science fiction.’’ (E1 Entertainment, $19.98)

COUPLES RETREAT (2009)

Valentine’s cash-in No. 1: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, and Kristin Davis are among a group of friends getting more than they bargained for at a relationship-therapy resort. Extras: on Blu-ray, video commentary by Vaughn (above, with Akerman). (Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $36.98)

LOVE HAPPENS (2009)

Valentine’s cash-in No. 2: Jennifer Aniston may be the one woman who can help self-actualization guru Aaron Eckhart help himself. Extras: filmmaker commentary. (Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $36.98; available now)

EMMA (2010)

Romola Garai (“Atonement’’) and Jonny Lee Miller (“Eli Stone’’) star in the BBC’s new miniseries adaptation of Austen. Extras: production featurettes. (BBC Video, $34.98)

TCM GREATEST CLASSIC FILMS COLLECTION (2010)

Turner Classics’ latest DVD grab bags include a Marx Brothers disc (“A Day at the Races,’’ etc.), a disc of romances (“Splendor in the Grass,’’ etc.), and a sci-fi disc (“Them!,’’ etc.). (Warner, $27.92 each; available now)

PROM NIGHT IN MISSISSIPPI (2009)

Here’s an interesting one timed to Black History Month: the documentary story of a Mississippi high school that integrated in 1970 and in 2008 finally accepted local resident Morgan Freeman’s offer to foot the bill for an integrated prom. Extras: filmmaker interviews. (Docurama, $26.95; available now)

HURRICANE SEASON (2009)

More sports inspiration from New Orleans: Forest Whitaker plays the coach in the true story of a high school basketball squad pulled together from five of the schools hit worst by Katrina. Extras: deleted scenes. (Vivendi, $19.97)

SCOOBY’S ALL STAR LAFF-A-LYMPICS: VOLUME 1 (1977)

Just in time for Vancouver, Scoob skis and Yogi skates. (Warner, $14.97; available now)

Titles are in stores Tuesday unless specified.